NEWCASTLE MP Sharon Claydon described the upcoming cuts to GP Access services as the "worst possible Christmas present" in a virtual rally on Wednesday.
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"The reduction of services at the Mater and services in the remaining four clinics is estimated to impact some 15,000 people in our region," Ms Claydon said in the Zoom rally.
"The idea that our community, our hospitals and our frontline workers would suffer because of some short-sightedness from those sitting in Canberra is just astonishing."
Scheduled closure of the Calvary Mater GP Access after hours clinic falls on Christmas eve and is part a number of cutbacks which will affect Toronto, Belmont, Maitland and John Hunter services.
Dr Annette Carruthers AM is a practicing Newcastle GP who helped establish the after hours service.
"In the past 18 years the community has enjoyed the best after hours service in the country," she said to the over 50 virtual participants.
"Our figures include 11,000 people who have been transferred from ED to our service for a more timely appointment. I've seen people who've waited three or four hours in the emergency department that we can deal with in fifteen minutes".
Dr Carruthers said given the service usually sees a spike in the holiday season, combined with growing COVID case numbers putting pressure on doctors and emergency departments (EDs), the cuts could mean we are headed for a "medical emergency".
"There is no situation where we could have needed the service more than this Christmas and it's going to be cut."
Bureau of Health Information's latest Healthcare Quarterly report notes John Hunter Hospital ED saw a more than fifty per cent jump in 'imminently life threatening' presentations in the July to September period.
Nurses and Midwives Association Acting General Secretary , Mark Kearin, said services like GP Access work to relieve the pressure in hospital EDs by taking on less severe presentations.
"Taking away any service like that means the clients will be forced to go to back to an acute hospital," he said.
"A lot of people don't want to wait so they will end up going home. They then get very ill and have to come back with a much more serious condition. It's a travesty they are taking away this service."
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